Charlie Myers, now awaiting trial for the murder of Jennifer Nelson, burned down a neighbor’s home in 2004 after breaking into it and stealing. His case reveals a deep flaw in Ohio’s juvenile justice system.Myers had already done time in juvenile prison twice before, and was not quite 18 when he torched his neighbor’s house. He appeared before a juvenile judge, who refused to allow him to be tried as an adult because of the series of tragedies that constituted the young man’s life. The Columbus Dispatch has a fine piece of journalism on the case today.
But this is not a story about bad judgment -- the judge did her best to follow the law, and no judge knows the future. This is a story about a juvenile justice system that misses the point.
Under current law, the system is concerned first with the offender, not society. Sometimes it works -- many young people who make teenage mistakes do not repeat them as adults.
But what about somebody like Charlie Myers?
Before someone like Myers can be tried as an adult -- and face adult penalties -- the juvenile court must hold what’s called an amenability hearing. Basically, if the judge thinks that any treatment, counseling or programming can possibly rehabilitate the young offender, he stays in the juvenile system.
It was supposed to get easier to try the worst young offenders as adults under the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2002 – but that amenability provision means that “bindovers” are still pretty rare.
Compare the juvenile law with what the law says about adult felony sentencing – that it’s to punish the offender and set an example to deter others.
We can do better. Here’s how: for a 16-year-old or 17-year-old who commits a serious felony – arson and burglary would qualify in my book – there should be no amenability hearing. Instead, the law should focus on the community, and state a preference to try the offender as an adult, with adult penalties -- although that preference could be overcome by sufficient evidence.
Research shows that adult prison time is not an important deterrent to other youths. Fine. There are two other truths about prison time for serious juvenile offenders: it’s deserved punishment -- and they won’t harm the rest of us while they’re locked up.
Charlie Meyer’s 2004 crimes would have put him in jeopardy of more than a decade in prison in the adult system, and if tried as an adult, he might have been there still.
He was not. Jenifer Nelson, 29, leaves behind a four-year-old son.
4 comments:
In 1994, a young man like Charlie Myers entered the same Justice System. Bobbie Bethel had been detained as a juvenile for arson and robbery but was walking the streets in August of 1994 when he tried to shoot a Columbus Police Officer. The court system incacerated him until he was an adult at which time he returned to his neighborhood and executed a teen couple within eyesight of where he had shot at the police officer years before. The patterns remain, violence begets violence. I will remember his victims always.
I know from intimate personal experience how complicated juvenile cases can be, and what a relief it can be to "catch a break" from a judge or magistrate when the offense is not that serious, but the consequences can easily mount up.
However, violent crime is another whole animal entirely. Whether or not a minor has been twisted by life, our first obligation is to protect the society.
Your proposal seems very reasonable to me. Violent criminals need to find swift justice, and to be contained somewhere to keep the rest of us safe.
I feel sorry for the life Charlie Myers had growing up. But, two wrongs doesn't make a right.
He should be held accountable for killing Jennifer Nelson. She had a young son to protect and he violated any rights he had when he took that little boy's mother from him and took her away from her loving husband. The justice system isn't strict enough sometimes.
He's competent enough to stand trial too! If he can steal a car, drive all the way from Columbus to Dayton and do what he did, lock him up for life and throw away the key! Better yet if you take a life you should be put to death too.
okay. so i understand that a lot of people are upset about what charlie did. he is my brother.. and he means the world to me. he is not a murder in my eyes. i know if you where to put your self in my shoes would would feel the same way. my brother who use to tuck me in at night when our father would go out and do his own thing. my brother whom i call my bubby, i dont and i cant see him as a person that could such a horrible thing. i cant see it. and im not going to change my opinion on him. i love my brother. we have all been horrible things in our life. and to the person that feels sorry for my brother, dont. he dosent need pity. he needs help. i love my brother. that's all i really wanted to say.
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